


A Train to Catch

by Emjen_Enla



Series: Prompted Works [41]
Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Canonical Character Death, Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Drinking to Cope, Episode: s03e03, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Missing Scene, Sleep Deprivation, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26264170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emjen_Enla/pseuds/Emjen_Enla
Summary: "I need to get some sleep" Or Tommy after the meeting with Madame Boswell.Written for Peaky Blinders Appreciation Week Day 3: Nature/Animals.
Relationships: Grace Burgess/Tommy Shelby, Johnny Dogs & Tommy Shelby
Series: Prompted Works [41]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1366669
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	A Train to Catch

**Author's Note:**

> This is my least favorite of the fics I have for this week. I'll be completely honest, if it wasn't already 12:43am and I would have had more free time today, I might have considered attempting to write something different, but I didn't have time and I'm already forty-five minutes late so I guess this thing gets to see the light of day.
> 
> Also, yes, I'm aware the connection to the prompt is tenuous.

“Tom, wake up.”

Tommy shifted a little and buried his face deeper in the quilt. It smelled like horses and the outdoors. It brought back memories of the time before the war. It was odd to be smelling it now. Something had happened. Something terrible, but exactly what was thankfully a bit beyond his reach right now. However, he knew that if he let himself wake up he’d have to remember and he knew that was something he really didn’t want to do.

“Tom, the train’s going to be leaving in twenty minutes. You’ll miss it.”

Tommy didn’t care. He wanted to be left to the safe embrace of sleep. He didn’t want to face whatever terrible thing had happened in the waking world.

“Tom!” Someone grabbed his shoulder and shook him.

The touch was all it took. Tommy’s eyes opened. He was lying on a pallet in the back of the wagon. Johnny Dogs was bending over him. Charlie was cooing softly in the corner. They were in Wales. Grace was dead.

“You said you wanted to get on the train for Birmingham,” Johnny said. “It’s going to be leaving in twenty minutes and there’s not another one until tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Tommy said, running his hands down the side of his face. He remembered now. The trek to Wales. The meeting with Madame Boswell. Her lies about the sapphire being cursed. Him saying he needed to get some sleep. He remembered that he’d been dizzy after they’d driven away and that Johnny had told him to lie down in the back. That must have been when he’d passed out. Obviously, he had so maybe this whole thing wasn’t a total waste. That was nice, he supposed, because he hadn’t really thought this would do anything, especially after he realized Madame Boswell was willing to lie about the sapphire being cursed because she thought that would make things easier for him.

He sat up slowly and looked around, trying to blink the sleep away. He needed to get on a train with a two-year-old in the next twenty minutes; he needed to wake up.

“How long was I asleep?” he asked. His voice sounded rough.

“Couple hours,” Johnny said with a shrug. “I kept Charlie quiet.”

“Thank you,” Tommy said, though he wasn’t sure he actually was thankful. Those few fleeting moments of half-consciousness where he hadn’t remembered that Grace was dead haunted him. He wasn’t sure if sleep was worth having to realize she was dead all over again.

He climbed out and blinked in the sunlight. The train station was at the edge of a small village. Johnny had stopped on the top of a hill overlooking the village. They were still mostly in the wilderness.

Tommy straightened his clothes as best he could. He was still a bit dizzy. That was probably from lack of sleep. Either that or he needed to eat something. That would probably be a good idea either way, but his stomach hadn’t settled since Grace had been shot. Food was the absolute last thing he wanted.

He fumbled through his clothes for his flask, but it was empty. Johnny down and handed over his own flask without being asked. Tommy took a swig and tried to get his focus on the future. He couldn’t afford any more half-baked trips like this. He needed to get back to the business.

“You alright, Tom?” Johnny ventured in a tone of voice which showed that he knew he was crossing a line.

“Yeah,” Tommy said. He didn’t let himself think about whether or not it was a lie. It needed to be true and that was ultimately what mattered. He handed the flask back. “Let’s get moving. I’ve got a train to catch.”


End file.
